The invention relates, in general, to the control of medical systems, and in particular, to the control of medical systems via mobile, wirelessly-communicating operated control devices.
Medical apparatuses and medical systems are typically understood to be technical equipment used for diagnosis and therapy in the medical field. Medical equipment such as electro-medical devices and nuclear medical devices, X-ray or ultrasound equipment, devices used in medical laboratory technology or the like are primarily used in surgery, intensive care, radiation treatment, and emergency services.
In order to provide flexibility of use, medical systems are often equipped with a wireless mobile operator control device. Radio, infrared, or ultrasonic techniques are the main transmission methods used. The use of a wireless operator control device, however, involves two serious problems.
On one hand, transmission paths between the operator control device and a medical apparatus to be controlled can be negatively influenced by interference signals, making them unreliable to control. Possible interference signals in radio transmission include, for example, radio effects generated by transmitter units, consumer electronics devices, nearby radio control units, or lightning discharges. In infrared transmission, interference signals are essentially comprised of modulated light sources, such as nearby remote control units, light flashes from discharge lamps, or thunderstorm activity. Ultrasonic transmissions are sensitive, among other things, to incident radiation from ultrasound diagnosis units, rinsing baths, and nearby ultrasonic remote control units.
Another problem typically lies in an unreliable supply of energy to the separate mobile operator control device via energy storage devices that are independent of a power grid, such as accumulators or batteries. A limited capacity of these energy storage devices may lead to frequent failures of the mobile operator control device.
Both problems may prevent wireless mobile operator control devices from being used to control medical systems since using them does not guarantee a required or desirable degree of operational reliability. In the past, therefore, wireless mobile operator control devices have typically been used only for non-critical control tasks such as image processing functions. For critical operational functions, the mobile operator control device has been connected to the medical apparatus by means of cable-based, shielded transmission paths. In order to combine flexibility and safety in operation control, critical and non-critical operational functions are currently executed in parallel on both a wireless operator control device and a cable-connected operator control device. The parallel execution of operational functions may incur correspondingly high costs and can also lead to incorrect operation, for example if an unauthorized person manipulates the cable-connected operator control device.